She saved my life in a diner!

Jim Commentucci/The Post-StandardNINA CONNER, of Central Square (left) was saved from choking by Robin Fiscoe, of DeWitt, while having lunch at the B-ville Diner in Baldwinsville.

While others froze, Robin Fiscoe worked on a choking patron. Today is her day at B-ville Diner.

As a lab technician for the Air Force during the first Iraq War, Nina Conner has seen people die in all sorts of ways: combat, tapeworms, infections.

And, on May 29, she thought she was going to die too.

Conner, 45, of Central Square, choked while eating lunch at the B-Ville Diner in Baldwinsville.

A stranger stepped up and saved her life.

Conner had a two-hour break between appointments for her job administering physicals for life insurance applicants. She decided she would hang out at the diner, treat herself to a leisurely lunch and read the latest issue of People magazine.

She ordered a chicken and bacon sandwich.

Conner cut the large sandwich into bite-size pieces and chewed slowly while she read her magazine, she said. She accidentally inhaled while chewing her second bite and a piece of chicken lodged in her esophagus, she said.

"I swallowed to see if I could get it down," she said. "I could feel it stretching my esophagus. It totally shut off my airway. I couldn't breath."

Conner stood up and frantically looked for help.

"Everyone was in shock," she said. "Everyone was frozen."

Robin Fiscoe was having lunch with an acquaintance from work, she said. She looked over and saw Conner panicking.

"She had this look of terror," said Fiscoe, 53, of DeWitt. "I just went into action, figuring she was choking."

Fiscoe began pounding on her back. That didn't work. She tried the Heimlich maneuver. It didn't work. She pounded harder on Conner's back. It didn't work.

"It seemed like hours when it happened, but it was probably only a minute and a half," Fiscoe said.

She wrapped her arms around Conner and tried the Heimlich a second time. Only this time, she used all her might.

"I really didn't want to hurt her, but I figured better a broken rib and alive," she said. "The adrenaline was pumping through me."

The chicken piece flew across the room.

Conner gasped for breath.

"I just sat down and started crying," Conner said.

Conner and Fiscoe swapped phone numbers and left the restaurant.

Conner wanted to find a way to thank her. She contacted the Onondaga County Executive's office to nominate Fiscoe for an award. Today, the county will declare it Robin Fiscoe Day at a 9 a.m. ceremony at the B-Ville Diner.

The two women have remained in touch and have begun a friendship, they said.

"How do you say thank you?" Conner asked. "How do you pay someone back for saving your life?"

The experience, Conner said, gave her a new perspective on life. As a single mother of a 15-year-old boy, her life has revolved around him, she said. Now that her son is a responsible teenager on the honor roll, she said, she has made a promise to herself to enjoy life more. She went to the movies by herself and has been socializing with friends, she said.

"This opened up my eyes," she said. "Everything has revolved around my son, and now it's my turn to get out there and enjoy life more."